Sales Techniques to Build a Strong Sales Team

Sales Techniques to Build a Strong Sales Team

Creating sales techniques where salespeople work together are more important than you think. Offering incentives to your highest sellers is a good practice, but when the competition becomes so intense that employees begin working against each other, it can become detrimental to the business. Here are a few tips you can implement that will help your salespeople grow as individuals and as a team.

Don’t Split Commissions

Splitting commissions among different members of your team may seem like a good motivational tool, but in the end, it will cause vicious competition. This can lead to resentment among your staff, often due to one person feeling as though he or she contributed more to a sale than others. To combat this cycle, try offering unexpected bonuses combined with manager praise for those who worked well within a team.

Regularly Host Team-Building Exercises

During staff meetings, come up with fun team-building exercises that will show your employees the benefits of working together. Different kinds of exercises can be used to create better communication among your team or promote problem-solving. There are several ways to do this:

Host a mini game show relevant to your company or industry (for example, corporate culture or the overall insurance industry), where employees must work together to earn prizes. Employees should be broken up into small teams rather than pitting individuals against each other.

Finances permitting, take your team out into the city for a scavenger hunt. Team members must communicate effectively using cell phones. Break them down into small groups and have them work together to decipher clues and earn prizes.

Try a spin on the “getting to know you” exercise routinely performed at new hire orientations. Have your employees write down three things about themselves: two truths and one lie. Have the others in the group try to figure out which one is the lie.

Pair off members of your team and have each pair sit back to back. Give one partner a simple picture or shape and the other a pencil and notepad. Those holding the pictures should give their partner verbal instructions on what to draw, without saying what the picture actually is. This exercise promotes communication among the team.

Each of these exercises demonstrates how trust and reliability are important to an effective and profitable sales team. They can be easily customized to meet your business’s specific needs, and are only a few among the many effective team-building exercises available.

Invest in Your Team

Be sure to invest in tools to help your staff succeed, such as regular training given to both individual employees as well as sales groups. This training will instill a confidence in your employees that they will carry into the field. By taking the time and spending the money to provide your salespeople with the most current information about their industry, you will let them know you are behind them all the way.

Whether you’re looking to motivate a team of established insurance agents or assemble your very first sales team, putting the time and effort into fostering team growth will benefit not only your individual employees, but the company as a whole.

Feel free to check out our Guide to Sales Success here.

About the Author

Justin Brown is an insurance marketing expert working as the Marketing Content Manager for the Bankrate Insurance companies NetQuote, InsureMe, and AgentInsider. He provides insurance agents and risk management advisors with the latest news and marketing tips to help them grow their business.